{"id":213,"date":"2013-04-25T20:07:03","date_gmt":"2013-04-25T19:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hilarymoriarty.com\/blog\/?p=213"},"modified":"2013-04-25T20:07:03","modified_gmt":"2013-04-25T19:07:03","slug":"pariss-lesson-is-a-lesson-for-us-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/j-moriarty.co.uk\/hilarymoriarty\/?p=213","title":{"rendered":"Paris's lesson is a lesson for us all"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nThe experience of the UK’s first youth crime commissioner is a lesson in the dangers of social media that all our students \u2013 and teachers \u2013 must learn, says Hilary Moriarty.
\n
\nThe storm which broke about the head of 17-year-old Paris Brown, who was briefly Britain\u2019s first youth crime commissioner earlier this month, may leave a changed world in its wake.
\nFor all of us, young and old, the message was clear: do not confuse social media with Las Vegas. What happens on social media does not stay on social media. Well, actually, it does, and that\u2019s the problem. What it doesn\u2019t do is stay private, the way Vegas might once have promised to hide all your indiscretions within its glamorous walls \u2013 though not, of course, in the case of Prince Harry, which rather proves my point.
\nIf we are seduced into indiscretion on Twitter or Facebook or wherever, we let down our guard at our peril. \u00a0The evidence will live forever and one day we will be sorry, like Paris.
\nSchools have long lectured students about thinking twice before they commit comments or photos to social media, none more so than boarding schools, which feel responsible for a student\u2019s actions in whatever part of the 24-hour-day he or she manages to do the wrong thing.
\nWe do not disapprove of social media per se, but we do disapprove of some of the uses students can find for it. In particular, in terms of e-safety, much work is done to inform students of the harm they can do if they use social media to bully others. Bullying in any form is abhorrent. But recent years have seen bullying \u2013 \u201cWe were only having a laugh! It was a joke!\u201d \u2013 become both more insidious and more powerful because it can sneak onto your phone or appear on the screen in your bedroom.
\nBullied at school can now mean bullied everywhere, it doesn\u2019t stop at the school gate, it\u2019s in your pocket, in your hand, part of the fabric of your life at school, on the bus, in the street, at home, in your bedroom. And everyone you know gets to see it at the same time. Word is out, and the victim feels they can do nothing to stop it.
\nThe Paris Brown case will go down in history as the major case which demonstrated the truth of what we tell children: don\u2019t let yourself down on social media, because it may be quick and easy, but it\u2019s also permanent. Others will see it. Others will go looking for it. Others will bring it to light when you would rather forget it ever happened, forget you even thought those words, never mind committed them to \u2013 what? Print? Not exactly. It\u2019s more permanent than that.
\nAny of your tweets may compose a picture of you made up from a million minor comments and idle, casual flicks of the thumbs. All you. Undeniable, even when you would give your arm to be able to take them back.
\nTeachers and counsellors warn of the permanence \u2013 \u201cYeah, yeah, I never say anything rotten!\u201d \u2013 and we warn of the likelihood of future jobs being jeopardised if your presence in the social media world is at odds with the glossy, sanitised version you put on display in your CV or at interview (a warning teachers themselves would do well to heed).
\nWe warn that universities will trawl for the truth before they offer a precious place to an avowed layabout. \u201cDon\u2019t be daft \u2013 they don\u2019t have time for that!\u201d But Paris Brown proves our point.
\nGranted her appointment by Kent\u2019s finest was a public enough event to set the newshounds upon her \u2013 \u201cCan this be true? Who is this girl? What\u2019s the back story to pad out the pages?\u201d And maybe most appointments will not get the subsequent rigorous-to-the-point-of-brutal scrutiny to which Paris was subjected. But bear in mind that the crime commissioner who appointed her and sat presenting her on breakfast television, patted her on the shoulder and said, \u201cshe\u2019s been a good girl!\u201d, as if she actually knew (as opposed to believed) that to be the case.
\nAnd bear in mind, at the end of the day, she had little choice but to resign. Now, what did we tell you about being careful on social media?\b
\nThis article originally appeared at http:\/\/www.sec-ed.co.uk\/blog\/pariss-lesson-is-a-lesson-for-us-all.\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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